Benefits And Perks

Since the majority of Dwarves Foundation employees work in Saigon, this section is written with that as the default. Some benefits don’t make sense in other countries. We will try our best to provide comparable benefits and perks as it makes sense, though.

Continuing Education Allowance

You will always grow by learning and playing with new and cool technologies. From books to conferences, you’ll get a yearly budget for your individual learning and development goals.

If you’re interested in taking classes that you feel improve you professionally or personally, you have a $300 annual stipend to do so. Some people take courses directly related to their career, while some take photography lessons or learn a musical instrument. It’s up to you; the point is to learn something that you feel enriches you as a person and employee.

Conference

In the case of conferences, the company will pay 50% of all expenses for approved job-related conferences and seminars. If you’re speaking at the conference, we’ll pay 100% of the expenses.

To get approval to attend a conference, submit a request to the Admin. In your request, provide as much detail as possible about the dates of the conference, your total expected out of office time, the costs of attending, the benefits expected to be gained by attending, any potential disruption to client work, etc.

Commission

The company will pay a commission on revenues it receives from each project which the employee procures. The commission will consist of 5% of the gross revenues for any sales. This may be split amongst multiple sales-people. A project does not have to have a sales-person.

Coworking Space

If working from home or a coffee shop doesn’t suit you, then trying a coworking space might do the trick. We support a $50/month stipend towards a desk in such a place in your city. Just make sure you’re using a true coworking space that’s meant solely for working, not a club or social space.

Remote Working

We encourage the team to work remotely. We want to build amazing things with autonomy, self-direction, and a healthy work-life balance. We offer flexible work schedules for all of our employees and unlimited PTO. We also believe that if a job allows for it, you should work wherever you are happiest.

It’s also important to note this privilege is on a case-by-case basis and you need the approval from the lead.

Healthcare

We provide comprehensive medical and life insurance for our full-time members. We want to make sure that you don’t have to worry about your life and contributing to things that matter. By default, we pay for the default package as provided by Vietnam regulation. If you are in need to upgrade the insurance package, you can talk to the Admin.

No Office Traps

We don’t offer things like Foosball tables, catered meals in the office, and other “perks” designed to keep you at work for all of your waking hours. We were hoping you could put in 8 quality hours then go live your life, rest, and recharge so you can come back fresh to do it again.

Investment Time

On Fridays, we work to make ourselves, the company and our community better by learning new tools and techniques, working on open source, blogging, creating new products, volunteering our time, and more. The more you contribute, the more bonus you get up to no limits.

Expense

The company will pay for any work-related expenses, such as software, or office supplies. If you have any doubts about whether or not to expense something, just ask. When you do buy something, get a receipt. Take a photo of that receipt, and send the photo to the Admin at operation@d.foundation for the reimbursements via the paycheck.

Employee Liquidity Pool

If Dwarves Foundation is ever sold or part of an IPO, tenured employees will be eligible to receive a portion of 5% of the value of the company. That 5% would be divided into units, based on the number of employees we have at the time. People who were at Dwarves Foundation for less than 1 year would receive 0 units, someone employed 1 year would receive 1 unit, and so on, until you’re fully vested at 5 years for 5 units.

Employee Stock Option Plan

If you don’t want to be just tenured employees, you can own the company. As part of the package, being the significant contributors will give you the right to buy a certain amount of company shares at a predetermined price. We will discuss on a case-by-case basis.

Employee Referral Bonus

We usually hire and to keep the quality bar, the Dwarves are encouraged to recommend friends that you think they match with the team. We believe your suggestions should be helpful as you have to know the person.

The company will pay a one month salary as a referral bonus to any employee who refers an applicant to our company who is hired by the company to a full-time position. The bonus is paid upon completion of the newly hired employee’s first 90 days of employment. The referring employee must still be employed with the company at the time the bonus is to be given.

Flexible Working Days

For a variety of reasons, people may choose to work fewer days per week than the usual Monday to Friday. It’s not encouraging but wherever possible we aim to enable this. Your paycheck and any bonus will be pro-rated as a percentage of a five day week. For example, if you opt to work 4 out of 5 days, your salary and any bonus would be reduced by 20%.

Please provide as much notice as you are able. Ideally two months or more for a change to your working patterns. It allows us to ensure that deliveries are resourced appropriately. As per our remote working policy, we encourage Fridays to be spent in the office wherever possible.

Flexible Working Hours

We care about the quality of the work we produce rather than the number of hours worked.

We do not have a specific start time. Likewise, there isn’t a time we expect everyone to leave the office. However we do have several meetings among the company, so you should get into the office or dial in before that time. We need to respect the team and our commitments so if we have a meeting booked for a certain time you are expected to be accommodating.

It’s also important to note this privilege is on a case-by-case basis and you need the approval from the lead. It’s worth noting most of our employment contracts with staff do in fact have set contractual hours. This is so we can withdraw this privilege if necessary.

For some people that prefer to have a fixed working schedule, we recommend to start at 8 am and end at 5 pm.

Paid Time Off

Dwarves Foundation offers two weeks of paid vacation, a few extra personal days to use at your discretion, and the official national holidays every year. This is a guideline, so if you need a couple of extra days, no problem. We don’t track your days off; we use the honor system. Just make sure to check with your team before taking an extended absence, so they’re not left in the lurch.

We don’t track sick days either. If you’re under the weather, take the time you need to feel better. We recognize, too, that your mental health is just as important as your physical health. Consider taking a mental health day every now and again when you’re feeling overwhelmed or mentally fatigued.

Short-term Disability

On top of Paid Time Off, the company offers a self-funded short-term disability (STD) plan to all its employees. If you fall ill or injure yourself and are unable to work because of it, let us know, and you can take 30 days off at 75% pay. If after that, you’re still unable to work, the STD policy kicks in, and you’ll continue to earn 50% of your pay until you’re better, up to 3 months off. These days are an emergency reserve, in addition to your vacation/sick time described above. If after this period, you still cannot work, talk to your manager, An, or Han, and we will discuss what comes next on a case-by-case basis.

Sabbatical

Every three years, employees are eligible to take a one-month-long paid sabbatical. Just give a heads-up preferably three months in advance so that we can coordinate the work-load accordingly.

Parental Leave

When you welcome a new child, we encourage you to take up to 16 weeks leave for primary caregivers and up to 2 weeks of discontinuity leave as a secondary caregiver at 100% paid salary. You may also choose to take an additional eight weeks to leave unpaid.